Reporting Results

Author: Richard G. Stock - Lexpert (January 2004 at p. 95)

Less than 20 % of corporate law departments have their lawyers and staff keep time. This figure is better when business units must be charged back for the efforts of the law department. What remains disappointing is that the executive suite is not better informed through time keeping about the contribution of the law department to achieving corporate goals.

Presenting the department’s report card must become a higher priority for the general counsel than it has been in the past. Some departments are doing a great job in this regard. The following are some of the practices:

Getting the Annual Goals Right - There two benefits to the techniques which law departments use to align their goals each year. The first is a matter of survival and amounts to setting the priorities for members of the department. It is understood that there will always be more work to do than there is time to do it. Aligning department priorities and individual objectives with the corporate business plan provides the rhyme and reason that lets counsel choose where, when and how they will take the lead and manage requests for service. The second reason is to be relevant as a legal resource in the overall scheme of things. Too many lists of high level corporate objectives have no corporate counsel as the primary movers. Counsel must have the skills and the positioning as a law department to be entrusted with key initiatives. The legal team must be aligned if it is to be strategic.

Measurement- The corporate goals may be clear, but the related objectives for counsel will not count for much if they do not produce results. It is one thing to report activity in support of an objective, but it is quite another to report on results that were targeted. Law department leadership usually struggles to find metrics that matter to the company. There will be measures and indicators that are legal specific – cycle time for litigation, reduction in resources, and management of outside counsel fees. Many of these lack strategy and indicators that deal with resource consumption. The objectives must be SMART – specific, measurable, achievable within resources allowed, results-oriented and time bound. Examples include:

• enabling transactions, agreements with clients or vendors;
• managing significant litigation;
• achieving satisfaction levels with clients;
• reducing legal-business risk; and
• leading or assisting with higher profile special projects.

Tracking Activity - It is difficult to meet a significant objective without having a project plan. Weekly reporting and accountability to others in the law department contributes to momentum and focus. Again, too many counsel seem satisfied with responding well to issues, crises and matters as they come up. This is not strategic. Some corporations will assign 4 or 5 strategic objectives to each member of the law department. Only one of these objectives will not be client-specific and focus on an initiative particular to the law department.

General counsel are responsible for ensuring that the objectives for the department’s lawyers have covered everything that is significant to the corporation, and to the business units, before the year starts. Too few general counsel do not take care to get this alignment and resource allocation right at the beginning of the year.

90-Day Reporting - Promising and delivering results is at the heart of performance management systems, and results are at the core of “effectiveness.” This puts pressure on those whose focus is prevention and managing risk to report outcomes. The focus moves away from processes and activity tracking to reporting results. The ability to influence the executive suite is enhanced by the department’s track record. Results reporting should occur at least every 90 days and be no more than a couple of pages for the entire department.

Getting the goals right, setting measurable objectives, tracking activity and reporting results are part of a single continuum. The sequence is non-negotiable. The challenge is to line up the opportunities and the resources to deliver the results. It takes more than an hour each week to make every member of the law department a strategic contributor.